As 2006 ran out of gas many people expected that some inflammatory articles by the Japanese press released throughout the year would finally bring PRIDE down on its knees, and perhaps the organization would become a part of the archives of MMA.  When I started receiving e-mails speculating that "so and so" was about to purchase PRIDE, I just kept thinking, this is not possible. As a fan of MMA it felt like someone had delivered a liver blow to my ole worn out body.  This was like the end of real rock n roll, and now we would be at the mercy of the next best thing, which does not come even close in terms of a pure show and the consistent international top level MMA talent.

Mere Extinction?
2006 is when PRIDE finally landed in the U.S. after much negative speculation (bankruptcy, corruption, etc) including most recently, rumors that "Zuffa was going to buy DSE," Instead Sakikibara decided to hit 2007 running and announced that the mountain Fedor Emelianenko is here to stay (in PRIDE that is) and now that they have announced the fact that Wanderlei Silva's opponent will be Dan "Hollywood" Henderson in The Second Coming, it looks like the hottest MMA organization in the world is fighting to stay alive and is not yet out of stamina.

Former K-1 GP champion Mark Hunt surprised everyone wth his ground game against PRIDE champion Fedor.

Fighting Well At Home
"Ele não tem boas recordações do Pride, acho que esse é o medo dele. Ele só luta bem em casa"  "He doesn't have good memories of PRIDE, I think that he is afraid of it. He only fights well at home." Wanderlei Silva hit it right on the chin in a recent interview with Carlos Arias, regarding what has actually been the attitude of many American fight Icons from the Octagon who refuse to step out into the big ring and fight. This does not include someone like Dan Henderson who is among the pioneers and die hards from Randy Couture's tribe, or even Shonie Carter, "Mr. International" for good reason. For some fighters its not about winnninng or lossing, its definitely about putting on a good fight. Many fighters want to choose their opponents while others will take on anyone, and yet others call out the names of top fighters. Wanderlei also added "O Liddell não quer lutar comigo. Essa luta vai ser boa pra nós dois e para os fãs" "Liddel doesn't want to fight me. This fight would be good for both of us and for the fans." The ropes are still a major adjustment for cage fighters, and an allien environmennt, so PRIDE's strategy seems to be one of challenging the best of the UFC to simply show the American fans whose got the best talent.

In PRIDE's first U.S. show, the most exciting part of the night was probably Wanderlei Silva stepping into the ring and calling out Chuck into the PRIDE stage.  For this fight to still have credibility, Silva has a lot on the line and needs to defeat Dan Henderson, who has been looking for the rematch for a couple years.  For Wanderlei there will be no knee shots or soccer kicks on a grounded Henderson and PRIDE is going to have to consider having separate belts in the U.S. vs. Japan, as the rules are extremely different.

Early Action
Otoko Matsuri (a.k.a Shockwave) was not particularly striking this year but the most exciting fights were undoubtedly lead of by the legendary Kiyoshi Tamura who absolutely overwhelmed Ikuhisa Minowa in rare fashion with a knee followed with a soccer kick.  Tamura then proceeded to land some shots to the body instead of the face while cursing at the referee for not intervening sooner.  This was a rematch of a previous encounter in the DEEP show, which Tamura won by decision. Minowa had to be peeled of the canvass after a very unnusual aggessive styled fight by the U-File leader.

Shinya Aoki, disciple of legendary Yuki Nakao, wrapped his rainbow colored tights around a bearded and haired Joachim Hansen to score a formidable and shocking upset of a top world ranked Lightweight by way of a Gogolplata triangle.  Aoki had the edge as far as size slimming down to the smaller Hansen’s weight class, but what was amazing was the fact that Hansen got one solid right inside kick in and then a couple ground n pound strikes and was absolutely neutralized.  Perhaps he got caught, and Aoki would most likely refuse a rematch, but this deserves a rematch.

For Gono it was about the glamour and the entrance, for Kondo it was broken fist in the first assault.

Kondo's Blues
The only fights that Yuki Kondo has lost in PRIDE (except against a larger Wanderlei Silva and his Welterweight debut) have been extremely close decisions, and that seems to be Kondo's fate in PRIDE, as he lost a split decision against an Akihira "Loudmouth" Gono whom he previously defeated in the Pancrase stage.  It was Gono the counter striker again, with a lot of huffing and a puffin and tragic posing when he did finally impose himself or throw something.  This was Gono who wishes he could make an entrance like the now retired Genki Sudo, and who has been practicing his dramatic touch with each strike.  Yuki Kondo got robbed again and with a 1-6 record in PRIDE with only two legitimate losses, he needs to find a bearing straight to a new stage since he is still a hot commodity and an exciting fighter to watch any day of the week.  Breaking a hand and fighting till the end unflinchingly is the sign of a true warrior, and this was Yuki Kondo's reality on New Year's Eve.

The Real Future
As if living his life like a metaphor, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua had an off night although he set the pace of the constant chase, taking it all the way to a unanimous decision victory against a favorite of PRIDE Kazuhiro Nakamura who scored his first non decision victory in the PRIDE U.S.A. show.  Hats off to Nakamura for lasting an entire match against Shogun, although he spent most of the time trying to get out of Shogun's submission attempts and avoiding knees and kicks. and getting mounted.  Various times Nakamura was on the brink of being shoulder locked and was mounted from the top and back.  Nakamura played a great game of survival, or trying to keep the fight close and infrequently landed some strikes, but it was clear who the winner was in the end, although he seemed to lack his usual energy level and pace. Perhaps what is most amazing about Shogun is his ability to constantly flow from Muay Thai strikes, clinches take downs, always looking for submissions, unafraid of giving up position, reversing and escaping at will. 

For Nakamura the night got ugly after his own fight, as his boss Hidehiko Yoshida got nailed by a lucky yet tenacious Josh Thompson who was being tutored in grappling up to that moment; completely under Yoshida's grasp, except the judoka forgot to wear his Gi and failed to submit his opponent who eventually submitted him with strikes. To Yoshida's credit, Thompson is a huge super heavy weight who had nothing to lose.

Gilbert Melendez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri, was a fiery and potent war of striking with the stocky Kawajiri landing a big overhand right to stun and then proceeded to land knees to the head. Kawajiri utilized strong grappling skills to avoid the clinch and press from a taller Melendez who tried to work the knees to the body, jabs and overhand hooks. Thick skulled the Aztec looking warrior attacked with his wild angular strikes eventually taking things to the ground but it wound up going back n forth for awhile.  Both fighters took some hard strikes, which floored each of them but in the end Melendez was able to implement his length, stamina, and knees taking a well deserved decision.  After Melendez found his striking zone, Kawajiri began to look more stiff having relied a lot on power wrestling.  Melendez seems to want to be included in the festivities of The Second Coming in Vegas, perhaps feeling a shot at Gomi might be in order.

Show Stopper
It was Takanori Gomi who came out with such vengeance, apparently his fire refueled and completely punished Mitsuhiro Ishida, finishing him in under two minutes with a counter straight and a ballistic ground n pound.  For Ishida this was a very rude awakening after a string of victories.  For Gomi it was necessary to prove his power and his very aggressive "UFC style" of fighting.  Gomi is indeed still the future at PRIDE's lightweight division and if he is to fight in the U.S.A. perhaps Melendez is a worthy opponent.

After Hunt tried a few submissions of his own Fedor retorted with some torque and a submission.

Big Boys
PRIDE not only has talent from the bottom (lightweight) up, but at the top weights their fighters are agile and engage in quick hard paced technical MMA.  Former UFC Heavy Weight champion Josh Barnett once again engaged in a tight fight against Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira, but in this twenty minute encounter the powerful and super heavy weight sized American came up short on fuel and got beaten in the stand up.  Nogueira once again set the pace in the fight and landed a lot of straight shots busting Josh's nose open. Barnett may now be thinking "best of three" and I supposse they could do it in PRIDEUSA.

For the second time in a long while Fedor Emilianenko seemed to be in trouble, troubled by huge Mark Hunt's counters to submission attempts, and his power and speed while standing. Although Emilianenko intiated the ground game, he kept winding up underneath the Samoan structure, who pulled of a beautiful reversal from a tight arm bar by stepping right over Fedor. In the end Emilianenko looked a bit worn, perhaps not having anticipated such a sly opponent.

An MMA New Year

In the end, 2006 was the begining of something new but almost the extinction of PRIDE itself. PRIDE lost alot of talented fighters, such as Quinton (the man who deconstructed Liddell in PRIDE) who steps into the octo-scenery and the carefully calculating Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovich who brings his Feliniesque worried expression to the cage. Not only is PRIDE changing, but the face of the UFC is definitely changing as well. As MMA booms and other organizations vie for position, the biggest of all shows, PRIDE, is trying to hold on to as much of the high talent it has always bred and more.
Otokomatsuro did not include all of PRIDE's best, as they are probably planning to attack Vegas with the entire top troop. It was the president of DSE who perhaps had to bow down on his knees begging the full blown champion Fedor Emilianenko to "Stay! Just a little bit longer."  Especially since Mirko can obviously be lured to any stage for the right amount.  It will be interesting to see what effect the cage will have upon Mirko; was it a mistake? I think it might work against him in a wrestlers world of stacking the opponent and ground n pound elbows, although the game seems to be definitely shifting more towards strikers. But perhaps Mirko can always leap back to the Thomas & Mack Arena, and make his own Second Coming in PRIDE.

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